HM 418 2e hcpm10

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 Define best practices in general and best practices in project
management for organizations
 Summarize best practices in project management for
individuals
 Explain how improving project management maturity can
improve project and organizational performance
 Describe research on project management maturity
 Discuss best practices described in this text
 Read final advice about project management

 Many organizations understand the value of project
management, yet they struggle to implement it well
 There is great value to learning about best practices in
project management on a case by case basis, but you
can also learn a lot by looking at larger studies of best
practices

 “Project management is changing the face of Hertz. It’s the toolbox the
company has never had before, and it’s changing who we are.”
 The board of Siemens recently launched a worldwide initiative to improve
its project management. The German electronics group had worked out
that half its turnover came from project-like work, and it calculated that
if it could complete all of these projects on time and to budget, it would
add EURO3 billion ($3.7 billion U.S. dollars) to its bottom line over three
years
 “Nike now manages footwear projects instead of just making and selling
shoes. Coca-Cola has people called “orchestrators” who manage a
collection of projects since most of the company’s bottling and
marketing of its drinks is outsourced to others. Germany’s BMW treats
each new car platform as a separate project. BP’s converted its
exploration division, BPX, into a portfolio of projects, and profits soared
after project managers were given more autonomy and had to build their
own self-sufficient teams.”

 Webster’s Dictionary (2017) defines a best practice as “a procedure
that has been shown by research and experience to produce optimal
results and that is established or proposed as a standard suitable for
widespread adoption.”
 Wikipedia (2017) ) defines a best practice as “a method or technique
that has been generally accepted as superior to any alternatives
because it produces results that are superior to those achieved by
other means or because it has become a standard way of doing
things, e.g., a standard way of complying with legal or ethical
requirements.”
 Perhaps you do not think it is a best practice to use a Wikipedia
definition in a text book!
 A best practice for one industry or region may not work in a different
one.

 Many people enjoying watching experts speak on various topics as part of the TED
Talks series. In December 2016 Ling Wong published a list called “11 TED Talks Every
Project Manager Should Watch.” Below are titles and lengths of the talks:
1. Daniel Levitin: How to stay calm when you know you’ll be stressed [12:20]
2. Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation [18:32]
3. Itay Talgam: Lead Like the Great Conductors [20:44]
4. Kelly McGonigal: How to make stress your friend [14:25]
5. Yves Morieux: As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify [11:58]
6. David Allen: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity [22:15]
7. Navi Radjou: Creative problem-solving in the face of extreme limits [16:25]
8. David Grady: How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings [6:40]
9. Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team [6:44]
10. Roselinde Torres: What It Takes to Be a Great Leader [9:15]
11. Julia Galef: Why you think you’re right — even if you’re wrong [11:37]

 The PMI Standards Development Program first published the
Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3®) in
December 2003 to address the need to bridge the gap between
organizational strategy and successful projects. The third
edition was published in 2013
 OPM3® defines best practices as “optimal methods, currently
recognized within a given industry or discipline, to achieve a
stated goal or objective”
 It lists hundreds of best practices, which PMI says are
achieved through developing and consistently demonstrating
their supporting capabilities, as observed through measurable
outcomes

 Capabilities are incremental steps leading up to one
or more best practices
 Outcomes are the tangible and intangible results of
applying capabilities
 A key performance indicator (KPI) is a criterion used
to determine the degree to which an outcome is
achieved

 Best practice: Establish internal project management
communities
 Capability (one of four for this best practice):
Facilitate project management activities.
 Outcome: Local initiatives, meaning the organization
develops pockets of consensus around areas of
special interest
 Key performance indicator: Community addresses
local issues

 Project initiation process standardization—Project
initiation process standards are established
 Program activity definition process standardization—
Program activity definition process standards are
established
 Portfolio resource planning process standardization—
Portfolio resource planning process standards are
established

 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at Harvard
Business School and a well-known author and
consultant, says that visionary leaders know “the
best practice secret: Stretching to learn from the
best of the best in any sector can make a big vision
more likely to succeed.”*
 Kanter emphasizes the need to have measurable
standards for best practices that can measure
performance against their own past, against peers,
and, even better, against potential

 Reach high. Stretch. Raise standards and aspirations.
Find the best of the best and then use it as
inspiration for reaching full potential
 Help everyone in your organization become a
professional. Empower people to manage themselves
through benchmarks and standards based on best
practice exchange
 Look everywhere. Go far afield. Think of the whole
world as your laboratory for learning

 AgênciaClick (Brazil)
 Airports Company South Africa (South
Africa)
 Beijing Organizing Committee for the
Olympic Games (China)
 Central Federal Lands Highway Division
(United States)
 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (Australia)
 Fluor Corp. (United States)
 IBM (United States)
 Indra Sistemas S.A. (Spain)
 Infosys Technologies (India)
 Intel Corp. (United States)
 MD Anderson Cancer Center (United
States)
 Memphis Managed Care Corp. (United
States)
 Missouri State Government (United
States)
 Mutual of Omaha (United States)
 National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (United States)
 Petrobras (Brazil)
 Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)
 Serasa (Brazil)
 Shell (Netherlands)
 Stork NV (Netherlands)
 Suncorp (Australia)
 TV Guide Interactive (United States)
 Wipro Technologies (India)Workplace
Technology Services (Canada

 Make sure your projects are driven by your strategy
 Use a staged approach
 Engage your stakeholders
 Ensure success by planning for it
 Monitor against the plan
 Manage the project control cycle
 Formally close the project

The key goals of project teams in healthcare delivery
organizations include:
1. Clear understanding of the project objectives
2. The project’s deliverables are clearly defined
3. Communication of project progress
4. Change management process
5. Resource allocations (identified/approved)
6. System or future state designs clearly understood by sponsor(s)
and all stakeholders
7. Risks clearly understood
8. Well planned tests performed
9. Project financial governance
10. Go-Live / Activation activities planned and executed
11. Post project records complete

a. Expectations clearly defined
b. Purpose clearly defined
i. product of the project clearly defined
ii. benefit of the product of the project clearly defined
c. Project objectives expressed in a form easily communicated
d. Project sponsor approves list of objectives in writing
e. Alignment validated with
i. Strategic plan
ii. Organizational vision
iii. Organizational mission
iv. Organizational disaster recovery plan
v. System and application refresh plan

 Andy Crowe, founder and CEO of Velociteach,
wrote a book in 2006 called “Alpha Project
Managers: What the Top 2% Know That Everyone
Else Does Not”
 As the title suggests, an alpha project manager is
defined as one who falls in the top two percent of
project managers in terms of performance, as rated
by their customers, senior managers, and team
members

 Crowe surveyed 860 project managers who had all
been clients/students at Velociteach
 Although this was not a scientific study, the
aggregate results provide interesting information
that can help define best practices for project
managers
 The general format of the survey questions was
as follows: Mark the degree with which you agree
with the following statement: Strongly disagree
(0%), Somewhat disagree (20%), Neutral (50%),
Somewhat agree (75%), Strongly agree (100%)

 They enjoy their work more
 They believe they have more authority
 They believe they can have a personal impact on
project success
 They think it is important for the project manager to
be a hands-on manager and a domain expert

 In fact, they spend more time in every process
group than their counterparts except for
execution, as follows:
◦ Initiating: 2% vs. 1%
◦ Planning: 21% vs. 11%
◦ Executing: 69% vs. 82%
◦ Controlling: 5% vs. 4%
◦ Closing: 3% vs. 2%

 When asked to rank responsiveness, the alphas’
stakeholders’ average response was 88% while the
non-alpha average was only 49%
 Alpha project managers send fewer e-mails per day
and spend less time in meetings than the non-
alphas
 They know how to prioritize work and focus on
what is most important

◦ They talk to stakeholders very early in the project and
tailor communication to meet their needs
◦ They create a communication schedule and stick to it
◦ They communicate their messages quickly in a clear and
concise manner
◦ They create an open communication channel and talk with
stakeholders regularly about the topic of communication
itself
◦ They know that on many projects, communication is the
only deliverable stakeholders will receive until the product
or service is completed

 Many people are “thrown” into the role of project manager. For
example, Nick Carson (his name is disguised) was an outstanding
technical specialist on a large biotech project. He was working on a
crucial project for his small company when the project manager quit.
Senior management asked Nick to take over. Nick had never led a
project, and he made the mistake of trying to still do his old job while
also managing the project
 Nick worked lots of overtime and did actually complete the project, but
his senior managers were not happy. Nick never gave them a detailed
schedule or understandable status reports. Whenever he talked to them,
they could not understand all of the technical detail he focused on. Nick
thought he did a great job, so he was amazed when he was offered a
severance package to leave the company. He decided he never wanted
to manage a project again
 This true story illustrates the fact that many organizations do not do a
good job of selecting, training, or mentoring their project managers

 A maturity model is a framework for helping organizations
improve their processes and systems
 It describes an evolutionary path of increasingly organized
and systematically more mature processes
 Many maturity models have four to six levels, with the first
level describing characteristics of the least organized or
mature organizations, and the highest level describing the
characteristics of the most organized and mature
organizations

 CMMI is in continuous development at the Software
Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University, a
federally funded research and development center
established in 1984 by the U.S. Department of Defense
 Many companies that want to work in the government
market have realized that they will not get many
opportunities even to bid on projects unless they have a
CMMI Level 3
 The capability levels of CMMI are numbered 0 (lowest)
through 5 (highest)

 Several include:
◦ OPM3®, mentioned earlier, with four levels (standardize,
measure, control, and continuously improve)
◦ Kernzer’s model, used by International Institute for
Learning, with five levels
◦ ESI International’s ProjectFRAMEWORK™, with five levels
◦ Berkeley’s Project Management Process Maturity (PM)2
model, with five levels

“Project success rates are rising. Organizations
today are wasting an average of US$97 million for every
US$1 billion invested — that’s a significant 20 percent
decline from last year’s findings.
What Pulse has shown in the past still holds true:
when proven practices are implemented, projects are more
successful. At the same time, the definition of success is
evolving. Traditional measures of scope, time, and cost are
no longer sufficient, and the ability of projects to deliver
what they set out to do — the expected benefits — is just
as important. So, for the first time, when determining
project success, we looked at levels of benefits realization
maturity in addition to the traditional measures.”
•28
* Project Management Institute, http://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-
leadership/pulse (accessed May 15, 2017).

 The average level of maturity for high performers was
3.4 vs. 1.7 (5 highest)
 Key findings of the 2014 survey of 293 different
organizations:
◦ A majority of firms (91%) have project management processes in
place.
◦ There is a direct and strong correlation between the project
management maturity of a firm and its overall performance.
◦ High-performing firms are much more mature in their project
management practices than low performers.
◦ There is a correlation between the length of time project
management has been in place in a firm and its project
management maturity and overall performance.
•29

 Companies with more mature project management practices have better project
performance. They deliver projects on time and on budget more often. Less
mature companies often miss their schedule targets by 40 percent and their
cost targets by 20 percent
 Project management maturity is strongly correlated with more predictable
project schedule and cost performance. More mature companies have a
schedule performance index (SPI) variation of 0.08 and a cost performance index
(CPI) variation of 0.11. Less mature companies have indexes of 0.16 for SPI and
CPI. For a $10 million project, this translates into a $1.6 million cost variation
 High project management maturity results in lower direct costs of project
management. Companies with a high maturity level spend 6–7 percent of total
project costs on project management. Companies with low maturity spent about
11 percent

 The researchers stated that they were “extremely
comfortable stating unequivocally that project
management delivers value to organizations.”
 These researchers found that most organizations did
not try to quantify the value of project management.
They said that measuring ROI “proved extremely
elusive.”
 Value focused on measuring project management and
satisfaction, alignment, process outcomes, and
business outcomes.

 In the conclusions section of their 152-page report, the
authors state, “The presence of patterns between
industries…is proven beyond any reasonable
doubt…while each industry has evolved its own systems
and capabilities in light of its own strategic intentions and
drivers, no industry has yet fully developed a suite of
systems and capabilities that are sufficiently rounded and
robust to produce the OPM outcomes that are necessary
to achieve the business success criteria. No industry is
without room for improvement.”

 Surveyed 200 companies from 30 different
countries about their project management maturity
and found that
◦ Over half of all projects fail
◦ Only 2.5% of corporations consistently meet their targets
for scope, time, and cost goals for all types of projects
 The survey’s main objective, however, was to
investigate whether a higher maturity level would
provide a higher project performance level

 A higher maturity level for an organization enhances overall
project performance, not in just one project, but in the
overall portfolio of projects
 Most organizations are not satisfied with their current
maturity level. The total average for survey participants was
2.5 on a 5.0 scale
 Project failures are often a consequence of organizational
aspects over which project managers have little influence
 Organizational structure has a big impact on overall project
performance. The higher the alignment between structure
and business requirements, the higher the overall project
performance.

 Staff development and professional certification enhance overall
project performance. However, more than 60% of the companies
surveyed do not regularly offer a development program to their
project managers
 A systematic approach to change management is fundamental for
superior project performance
 Staffing projects with a majority of internal resources as opposed
to external resources is a better guarantee of success. The highest
performance was achieved by using 25% external resources and 75%
internal
 The extent to which project management software is used is
correlated to maturity levels. The lower the maturity level, the
more difficulties the organization will have in implementing software

 Project management maturity levels are on the rise. 62% of
respondents were now at the highest two maturity levels
compared to only 21.9% in 2004.
 Higher maturity yields higher performance.
 Projects are essential to business success. When asked why
projects were initiated, the main reasons respondents cited
were business imperatives (40.2%), revenue generation (30.1%,
and cost reduction (10%).
 Training and staff development in project management has
grown drastically. Approximately 76% of survey respondents
indicated that project management training and development
opportunities were available, and 67% believed that project
management training contributes to business performance.

 Wrike, an online project management software provider, created a short list and
creative infographic to help you remember ten project management best practices.
They suggest that you review these tips every time you start a new project to help
achieve greater success.
1. Communicate with all project stakeholders from day 1: team members, managers, project
sponsors, clients, valued users, etc.
2. Create a risk response team as the first line of defense when problems occur.
3. Always hold a project kick-off meeting and include everyone.
4. Start your project with a detailed work definition document, and make all stakeholders sign in
agreement.
5. Create a detailed work plan and model it off of previous, similar projects (if possible.).
6. Document everything: steps, bottlenecks, changes in scope, etc.
7. Ask the team for feedback on your management methods and what you can do better to help
them.
8. When stakeholders come to you with new requests, show them how the change will affect your
project timeline or budget.
9. If scope changes due to new requests, have everyone sign a new agreement document.
10. Hold a wrap-up meeting after the project ends to discuss lessons learned and ways to
improve for next time.

 Determine how project, program, and portfolio management will
work best in your own organization.
 Involve key stakeholders—including shareholders, customers, and
employees—in making major decisions. On healthcare projects
involving clinical work, be sure to get key clinicians on-board.
 Develop and follow a formal project selection process to ensure
projects support business needs.
 Lay the groundwork for projects before they officially start.
 Separate projects by phases when it makes sense to do so. Be
sure someone with a clinical background leads clinical project
phases.

 Designate a project champion to provide high-level support
and participate in key meetings.
 Form a steering committee with key managers from various
departments for projects that will cause major
organizational change.
 Provide mentoring and training for project managers and
other stakeholders.
 Document action items at meetings, and set the next
meeting time.
 Document meeting with minutes, focusing on key decisions
and action items, and send them out quickly.
 Use more than one approach for creating cost estimates.

 Use formal supplier evaluation procedures to help select sellers.
 Include a detailed statement of work and schedule in contracts.
 Develop and follow a formal change-control process.
 Work with suppliers to ensure that deliverables are produced properly.
 Follow a deliverable acceptance process to verify project scope.
 Be clear and honest in communicating project status information, and
share the responsibility for project communications with the entire
project team.
 Formally close projects and share lessons learned.

 Diffusion of best practices in healthcare are often measured in decades rather than
months. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic shared their recent list of best practices
and suggestions for speeding up the process of putting them in place. Some of the
Mayo Clinic standardized best practices that were diffused by the end of 2012
include:
◦ Central Venous Catheter Insertion and Maintenance Practice Standardization
◦ RN Bedside Rounds (Shift Handoffs)
◦ Orthopedic Knee and Hip Protocols
◦ Mortality Management for Deteriorating Patients
◦ Preventable Harm Metric
◦ Airway Management–ICU Intubation
◦ Computerized System for Quality Monitoring
◦ Value-Based Purchasing Measures Compliance
 Mayo Clinic has developed a model of diffusion status tracker, which looks similar to
a dashboard for managing a project portfolio. Senior leadership uses this tool to
monitor progress on all active best practice projects. “The ability to consistently
bring innovations and best practices to scale across entire systems will be a
hallmark of the successful health care organizations of the future….Effective
managed diffusion of excellence bolsters our most precious possessions: our
patients, our esprit de corps, and our reputation.”

 Project management as a valuable skill for you as an
individual and for all types of organizations
 The number of projects and their complexity will
 continue to increase, so it is important to
understand, apply, and improve the state of project
management
 The knowledge and experience the authors have
gained working on and managing projects continues
to help us in our careers and personal lives

 Many organizations study and apply best practices to
improve their ability to manage projects, programs, and
portfolios
 Individual project managers can also use best practices to
improve their performance. The best or alpha project
managers spend much more time on planning and enjoy
their jobs more than other project managers
 A maturity model is a framework for helping organizations
improve their processes and systems
 Project management is a valuable skill for individuals and
organizations

HM 418 2e hcpm10

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